Shifter On Ice (Shifter World - Book Two) (Series of 13 Short Stories)

“They’re gone,” Lyvia said as she opened the door.

“What was that loud crash?” Shar wondered out loud as they left the bathroom.

“Not sure, but I could swear I’d heard your mate hollering.”

Shar nodded. “I did too.”

They stopped when they saw the chaos of the bar. Tables and chairs were splintered all over by the entrance, and people were gathered by the door.

“Where are our guys?” Lyvia asked, staring at their empty table.

“I have a feeling that’s what everyone is trying to watch,” Shar said, pointing to the group at the door.

Lyvia looked at the group and nodded. “Let’s go see what our mates got themselves into.”

Sharissa nodded, and they headed for the front door.

They had to push through the crowd. Two men grabbed them before they got to the door.

“Holy fuck,” Lyvia said when she was pulled against a solid chest.

“Get your hands off me!” Sharissa yelled.

“Let them go, you idiots!”

Lyvia and Shar watched as Marry-Beth hit the one holding Shar over the head with a baseball bat.

“What the fuck, Marry-Beth?!” the man cried out as he let go of Shar.

Lyvia kicked her captor in the shin, and when he let her go, she collapsed against Shar.

“Can’t you jackasses see they’re claimed?!” Marry-Beth shrieked as she pointed to the two women’s wrists.

Both men looked at the women’s wrists, and their skin paled.

“Looks like I need to put up a new sign,” Marry-Beth said, watching Shar and Lyvia. “I don’t want those boys to stop coming in here, and if their mates are attacked every time they come here, they’re going to stop coming here. And I know Sebastian will follow.” She shook her head.

“New Bar rule!” Marry-Beth shouted over the noise of her bar. “Check wrists before you listen to your cock and try to claim them for yourself! The next person to attack a claimed mate is getting their dick mounted on the wall for all to see!” she turned to walk away, then turned back.

“And no cockblocking. If you try to steal someone’s mate, more than your dick will be mounted on the wall. If she’s not your mate, stay the fuck away from her!” Marry-Beth shouted.

“Or him,” Sharissa said when she saw Mable.

Marry-Beth followed Sharissa’s eyes and growled. “Or him.” She rolled her eyes in agitation and returned to the bar.

“Let’s go,” Lyvia said as she took hold of Sharissa’s hand.

They excused themselves through the rest of the shifters trying to see what was going down outside. Lyvia and Shar made it outside just as four shifters jumped Dustin as he was beating the crap out of another.

“Dustin!” Sharissa screamed as she took off toward her mate.

“Whoa there, little mama,” Tate said as he gently wrapped his arms around Shar.

Dustin heard his mate scream, and his cougar took over—no if ands or buts. With a loud, angry growl, he shifted and flung the other shifters off him.

“Shit,” Daryl said as he watched his brother. “If he gets caught, he’ll be arrested.”

“Why?” Shar asked, tears running down her cheeks.

“Because even though humans tolerate our presence, they have one rule,” Dylan said.

“Don’t shift in public,” all six shifters said simultaneously.

Shar looked at her brothers. “Help him,” she ordered.

The brothers laughed. “Yes, ma’am.” They said at the same time, then went after the shifters who were still trying to take Dustin down.

“Don’t kill them!” Tate hollered out to the Kraftman brothers and Raj.

“What started this?” Shar asked as she watched her mate fight a shifter who’d shifted into a bear.

“The bear your mate is fighting threatened to fuck you until you bled,” Tate whispered into her ear.

Lyvia sucked in a shocked breath, then picked up a rock and threw it at the bear.

The rock hit the bear in the head and bounced off. The bear stopped its attack on the cougar and turned to them.

“Holy fuck,” Lyvia mumbled.

“Good going,” Shar grumbled. “You just pissed off a bear.”

The bear headed toward them, and Lyvia shifted. When the bear got to them, the tigress was ready for him.

“Damn it, Lyvia!” Raj yelled as he watched the bear rush at his mate.

“Tate told us what the asshole said about me!” Sharissa yelled.

“Great, blame me,” Tate grumbled.

“Damn it, Vampire,” Raj said as he ran toward them. “Did you forget about the Mate Bond?”

“Not at all.” Tate grinned. “I knew she was dying to get involved.”

Raj growled at the vampire, then paused to watch his mate as she jumped on top of the bear and brought him down. Her teeth sank into the bear, and the bear roared.

“Get off my man!” a woman hollered as she ran out of the bar.

“Your man?” Raj asked, staring at the woman.

“He’d left the table to go to the bathroom, and when he didn’t come back, I went looking for him and heard he was attacked by a pack of hyenas.”

“Hyenas!” Shar screamed. “Cougars!”

The woman looked at the cougar helping his brothers take down the other four men.

“Why are they fighting?” the woman asked. “And why is she still on top of my boyfriend?”

“Miss, I think you should sit down.” Tate chuckled.

“Fuck you, Vampire. Shouldn’t you be stopping this?”

“I told them no killing; that’s good enough,” Tate said.

“Why are you holding that human?” the woman asked.

“Curiosity killed the bear,” Tate said with a wicked grin.

“Were they fighting over a damn human?!”

“Watch it,” Raj said, walking toward her. “That human happens to be my friend’s Fated Mate.”

Her eyes ran from Raj to Shar and back again. “So, they are fighting over her?”

“Not fighting over her.” Tate’s grip tightened around Shar when she moved to help Lyvia.

The bear shook the tiger off. Lyvia landed on her back, rolled over, and stood with a growl.

Raj told the woman what her “boyfriend” had said about Shar, and the woman growled loudly.

“Are you sure she’s mated to the cougar?”

Tate held Shar’s arms up so the woman could see the markings.

“If you guys had been here a couple weeks ago, you’d have heard Dustin’s announcement.” Raj walked toward his mate and stood between her and the bear.

“Let me handle this,” the woman said, then shifted into her bear and attacked her boyfriend.

Which they were pretty sure was going to be dumped like a sack of rocks.

Sirens rang in the night, and Raj looked at Lyvia. “Shift back,” he said.

Lyvia shifted back to her human form.

Raj grabbed Lyvia and pulled her against him.

“That was very stupid,” he said, holding her.

She laughed. “I know, but it was fun.”

Raj snorted. “It was also sexy as hell.”

“Hmm,” Lyvia purred.

The two bears continued to fight in front of them. The female pinned the male down and bit his ear. The male screamed, and she let him go, then shifted back to human form.

“Let that be a reminder!” she roared at him. “No one cheats on me! NO-ONE!” she screamed, then stormed away toward the parking lot.

“Dustin needs to shift back!” Daryl hollered.

“Let me go,” Shar said when she saw her mate pacing back and forth on the sidewalk.

Tate let her go, and she ran to her mate.

“Dustin,” she whispered as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

Dustin growled when she touched him, then whimpered when she jumped back from him. The cougar moved toward his mate and rubbed his head against her chest.

Shar smiled. “You’re so beautiful. But you need to shift before the cops get here,” she said, rubbing the top of his head.

The cougar sat on his hind legs and started to shift.

“Dustin,” Shar cried as she fell into her mate’s arms.

“Sharissa,” Dustin breathed, holding her close.

The sirens stopped, and two cars pulled up against the curb.

“Time for me,” Tate said as he walked over to the four officers who stepped out of the cars.

“What is he going to do to them?” Shar asked as she watched.

“Make them forget what they saw. Make them believe it was just a regular bar fight, and it had broken up before they got here,” Dustin said as he nuzzled her neck.

“How are we going to get that jackass to shift back?” Raj asked as he and Lyvia joined Dustin and Shar.

“Don’t know and don’t care,” Dustin grumbled.

“I want to see your wrists!” a shifter who’d been fighting them growled as he walked up to the two couples.

Lyvia, Raj, Dustin, and Shar held out their wrists at the same time. Their palms up so the assholes could see their mate’s names and leave them the hell alone.

The man’s face paled, and he backed away. “I think it’s time for me to go home.” Hhe turned and took off at a run.

Lyvia and Shar giggled as they watched the shifter run down the street.

“I can’t believe all this bullshit we go through. Maybe we should stay home from now on.” Sharissa pouted.

“No way,” Raj said with a wicked grin. “I’m not hiding, and neither is my mate.” He pulled Lyvia closer.

“The other three took off when that one did.” Dylan laughed as he joined them.

Tate walked over to them, and they watched as the police cars drove away.

“He still hasn’t shifted?” Tate asked, his head nodding toward the bear sitting away from them, alone.

“Nope.” Raj wrapped his arms around Lyvia and set his chin on the top of her head.

“I’ll take care of it,” Tate said.

They watched the vampire walk over to the bear. He looked the shifter in the eyes and said something they couldn’t hear.

“How do we know we’re not always under that man’s spell?” Raj asked.

“Because we’d all be some form of walking zombies.” Dustin laughed.

Raj snorted. “I guess.”

The bear shifted into his human form, turned without a word, and left.

“What did you tell him?” Lyvia asked when the vampire rejoined them.

“To shift back and forget everything he’d seen and done tonight. To stay away from any Fated Mate he smells. Unless it’s his own. And go home and not ever return to this bar,” Tate said with a shrug.

“Will he listen?” Shar asked.

“He better if he knows what’s good for him,” Dustin growled. He turned his head to his mate’s neck and breathed in her scent.

“That’s disturbing,” Dylan said, making a face at his brother.

Dustin chuckled. “Just wait until you find your mate.”

“Think of what would have happened if Tate hadn’t been here,” Raj said, looking around at his friends.

“Dustin would have killed the bear. Shar would have gotten herself hurt trying to help him, and we’d all be in jail right now,” Daryl said with a shake of his head.

“Okay, tonight is going in my ’never happening again’ file,” Shar said, a chill running down her spine.

“Babe,” Dustin said, kissing her cheek. “You’re mated to a shifter. Believe me, this will happen again.”

~🐅~

“Don’t forget to change Symone’s bandage twice a day,” Lyvia said as her mate tried to drag her out the door.

“She knows all of this, Lyvia. You’ve been repeating it for the past two days,” Raj said as he finally got his mate to the door.

“So sweet,” Lyvia said, looking up at her mate.

“Yes, I am. Now let’s go.”

“Symone, you listen to Sharissa and Dustin! I’ll miss you all!”

“They know, come on,” Raj said as he dragged her to the car.

Shar and Dustin waved to their friends as they pulled out of the drive.

“Are you sure you’re okay with us watching Symone and her kittens until they return?”

Dustin smiled down at her. “She’s feline, so of course I am. Now, if it had been a dog….”

Shar chuckled. “I don’t see a tiger getting along with a dog.”

Dustin chuckled. “Right, you are.”